The Dunkirk evacuation represented massive losses in materials and equipment for the British army. In this article we are going to take a look at the amount of equipment that was left in France, the amount of equipment remaining in the United Kingdom and the ability of the United Kingdoms industry to replace the losses suffered.

Below is a list of the artillery lost in France.

Field

Anti-Tank

Medium Artillery

Heavy Artillery

Super-Heavy

25/18pdr

18pdr

4.5" How

2pdr

25mm

6" How

4.5/60pdr

60pdrs

6" Gun

8" How

9.2" How

9.2" Gun

12" How

704

216

96

509

98

221

32

19

13

13

27

2

4

Tank losses in France.

Light Light VI

Matilda I

Matilda II

Cruiser

Total

331

77

23

184

It's clear to see that the amount of material lost was significant, particularly that of anti-tank and medium/field artillery. The total number of tanks lost seems high but, fortunately for Britain the majority of these were obsolete light tanks and the older Matilda I infantry tanks. The number of Cruiser tanks lost was however quite significant, representing more than half of the total number of Cruiser tanks available. I have as yet not been able to locate figures for anti-aircraft losses but I suspect they would be relatively light as the number of weapons sent to France was quite small.

While the total amount of equipment lost is interesting, it does not give a good indication of the situation Britain was faced with after the fall of France. The able below shows the stock of equipment in the hands of the Army on June 6th 1940 compared to the losses in France.

Lost

Stock 6th June

% Lost

2pdr Equipments

509

333

60

Bofors Equipments

-

283

-

3.7" Equipments

-

662

-

18/25pdr Equipments

704

492

59

25pdr Equipments

0

114

0

18pdr Equipments

216

180

55

4.5" How Equipments

94

280

25

Cruiser Tanks

184

141

57

Infantry Tanks

100

140

42

Light Tanks

331

407

45

Rifles

-

1,150,000

-

Bren Guns

-

14,023

-

Boys Anti-Tank

-

6,675

-

2" Mortar

-

3,100

-

3" Mortar

-

261

-

Overall artillery and anti-tank losses are in the region of 60% of total stocks and tanks around 50% of total stock. Before we continue, it is important to look at the situation the United Kingdom and the British Army was in. The British Army before the war was a small, professional force but as the probability of conflict increased the size of the British Army was rapidly increased and so did the need to modern equipment. The War Office requirements for equipment until 1939 was around 5 field divisions, by February 1939 this had increased to 10 divisions and by September the requirement was for 20 divisions with "55 as soon as possible".

The United Kingdoms industry was not war ready at the outbreak of war and had no hope of equipping the rapidly expanding army let alone the 55 division requirement set by the War Office. As the war progressed and the United Kingdom's industries where switched over to the production of the weapons of war, the increase in munitions was rapid and by June 1940 production was more than double that of the average of the first 6 months of war. Table comparing output of tanks, weapons and ammunition in September 1939 and June 1940

Production

September 1939

June 1940

Light Tanks

26

21

Cruiser Tanks

21

58

Infantry Tanks

7

57

Bren Guns

1,694

3,447

25pdr Equipments

0

102

Bofors AA Equipments

2

118

3.7" AA Equipments

56

122

2pdr Equipments

47

83

25pdr HE

77,500

293,000

2pdr AP

29,500

84,500

.303"

14.5m

69m

Despite the increases in output the losses in France meant a massive setback in the equipping of the new British army. It is common to read the statement " the statement "there were fewer than 100 tanks left in the United Kingdom", this is obviously an exaggeration as the two tables above clearly show more than 100 tanks in the hands of the army and Junes production alone was more than 100 tanks. It is also often said that there was only a single fully equipped division in the United Kingdom, this may have been the case, but how many divisions worth of equipment were available in total?

The following table shows the percentage of the 27 "token" divisions in the United Kingdom that could be equipped with army stocks within the UK, June 30th 1940. The equipment for these 27 "token" divisions includes all the equipment for 27 Infantry Divisions, 2 Armoured Divisions, 7 Army Tank Brigades, 11 Divisional Cavalry Regiments and all equipment for the Air Defence of Great Britain. Note, a the equipment requirement of a token division includes all the initial equipment of an infantry division, its share of equipment from the armoured divisions, all equipment from non divisional troops and reserves. For example a regular infantry division required around 740 Bren guns while a "token" division requires 1,171.

June 30th 1940/b>

% of 27 Divisions

Number of divisions

Anti-tank rifles

40%

13

Bren Guns

40%

14

2" Mortars

80%

24

3" Mortars

20%

5.4

2pdr AT

16%

4.5

Field Artillery

43%

15

Medium Artillery

26%

10

Heavy Artillery

44%

12

Medium A.A.

24%

6.5(est)

Heavy A.A.

59%

16(est)

This data shows that there is enough equipment in the United Kingdom to fully equip around 10-12 divisions with artillery and small arms (there are more than enough rifles to equip the full 27). It is clear from the table that the most serious situation is that of anti-tank weapons, with only enough 2pdrs to fully equip just over 4 divisions. The following table shows the increase in equipment from June to August 1940, large amounts of equipment were sent to the Middle East and these have been included in the final column.

June 30th

July 31st

August 31st

(ME)

Anti-tank rifles

40%

51%

55%

62%

Bren Guns

40%

53%

59%

66%

2" Mortars

80%

87%

91%

93%

3" Mortars

20%

35%

35%

39%

2pdr AT

16%

23%

24%

28%

Field Artillery

43%

49%

51%

52%

Medium Artillery

26%

27%

30%

31%

Heavy Artillery

44%

-

-

-

Medium A.A.

24%

29%

33%

36%

Heavy A.A.

59%

62%

65%

67%

By the end of August the situation has greatly improved from that of June 30th with infantry weapons seeing the greatest increase. Artillery and Anti-Aircraft weapons are also progressing slowly, the anti-tank situation is still critical but is being resolved at an ever increasing rate with 417 2pdr equipments being completed in October/November alone (27.5% of the entire years production). By October 1st the number of "token" divisions that could be equipped were as follows:

October 1st 1940

Number of Divisions

Improvement from June 30th

Anti-tank rifles

21

8

Bren Guns

23.5

9.5

2" Mortars

32

8

3" Mortars

16.5

11.1

2pdr AT

8.5

4

Field Artillery

19

4

Medium Artillery

10

0

The figures clearly show a significant improvement in the number of divisions that can be fully equipped, in terms of light infantry weapons such as mortars, anti-tank rifles and Bren guns the number of extra divisions that could be equipped has risen by at least 10, the greatest improvement being that of 3" mortars. Progress for artillery is slow as 25pdr production is still in the early stages and most of the older 18pdr guns have already been converted. 2pdr anti-tank weapon production is progressing but as mentioned before October and November sees a very large increase over previous months. Medium artillery figures remain static as the new 4.5" and 5.5" guns have not yet entered production.

The following tables detail the total stocks of .303 ammunition held in the United Kingdom, these include stocks for the Army, Air Force and Navy, September 27th 1940.

Ball

AP

Tracer

Incendiary (Mk.IV)

Incendiary (Mk.V)

Total

June 7th

242.9

29.4

10.3

12.4

0

295

August 30th

386.1

27.5

23.4

11.8

0.46

449.26

September 27th

377.9

28.37

24

11.37

0.44

442.08

Weekly output of .303 ammunition of all types for July was around 12.7 million rounds, August 11.2 million rounds and September 8.63 million rounds. Stocks have risen dramatically over the period despite heavy expenditure during over the period of just over 12 million rounds a week. UK production roughly equals expenditure over the period, the increase in stocks is mainly due to imports from Commonwealth sources - 67.7 million rounds in August.

The following shows tanks and carriers in the hands of the army between June 30th and August 31st.

Infantry

Cruiser

Light

Carriers

June 30th

140

209

582

2,242

July 31st

218

284

657

3,181

August 31st

274

322

659

3,784

The period between June 30th and August 31st sees an increase of 134 Infantry tanks, 113 Cruiser tanks and 1,542 carriers of all types. Infantry tank production is steadily increasing from 57 in June to 90 in August, Cruiser tank production is decreasing dropping from 58 in June to less than 30 a month by the end of the year. Carrier production has increased dramatically during the year to over 500 a month by May. Infantry tank production peaks in December with 127 tanks in that month alone.

Before the Second World War the standard machine gun armament for British tanks was the Vickers .303 machine gun. In 1936 B.S.A signed an agreement that allowed them to manufacture the Czech ZB53 machine gun and in 1938 the War Office placed their first order with the first guns being completed in 1939. It was soon realised that the gun was not suitable for mass production and so the weapon was modified, the result of which became known as the 7.92 Besa. The Besa 7.92 became the standard machinegun armament for British tanks during the War. There where four different versions of the gun but the difference between them was minor - the biggest being that the Mk I and Mk II versions had an adjustable rate of fire.

Initially these guns were armed with standard ball ammunition. This was followed by a tracer round in mid 1940, armour piercing ammunition towards the end of 1941 and incendiary at the end of 1942.

Besa tank 7.92mm gun specifics

Version

Mk I

Mk II

Mk III

Mk III*

Calibre

7.92mm

7.92mm

7.92mm

7.92mm

System of operation

Gas, automatic only

Weight

47lb

48lb

54lb

53.5lb

Overall length

43.5"

43.5"

43.5"

43.5"

Barrel length

29"

29"

29"

29"

Feed device

225 round link or metal and canvas belt

Muzzle velocity

2700fps

2700fps

2700fps

2700fps

Cyclic rate

450-750

450-850

750-850

450-550

The Besa 15mm gun was based off the Czech 15mm ZB60 and the basically design was similar to that of the 7.92mm Besa except that it could be used in both automatic and semi automatic modes and had a fixed rate of fire. A number of the ZB60 guns were imported before the war and production of the Besa 15mm began in 1939 with the first examples being finished in May 1940. These weapons were usually used on armoured cars, the standard ammunition was armour piercing with armour piercing tracer introduced from June 1941.

Version

Mk I

Calibre

15mm

System of operation

Gas, selective fire

Weight

125.5lb

Overall length

80.75"

Barrel length

57.6"

Feed device

25 round link belt

Muzzle velocity

2940fps

Cyclic rate

400-500

15mm Besa penetration (range in yards)

Plate

Angle

100

200

400

600

800

1000

15mm AP

HH

30

18.5

17

15

13.8

13

12.5

Production of Besa guns and ammunition by year (UK only, ammunition in thousands)

Pre-War

Sep-Dec 1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

Besa 7.92

-

418

2,618

6,608

22,437

18,636

6,862

-

Besa 15mm

-

289

759

1,180

-

-

-

Besa 7.92 Ball

-

3,256

56,689

25,049

86,070

110,970

53,400

8,50

Besa. 7.92 Tracer

-

-

2,102

15,597

52,740

73,330

37,200

27,670

Besa 7.92 AP

-

-

-

-

2,778

79,040

44,620

5,380

Besa 7.92 Incendiary

-

-

-

-

130

22,610

18,010

2,500

Besa 15mm AP

-

10

357

1,177

2,778

350

-

-

Besa 15mm AP Tracer

-

-

-

19.5

130

1,260

-

-

Smoke Weapons

The British made extensive use of smoke weapons on their tanks during the Second World War, practically every had some sort of smoke emitting device fitted. The two principle devices were the 4" Smoke Generator and the 2" bomb thrower. The 4" Smoke generator launched a smoke generator that created a smoke screen for around a minute and a half, there were usually two of these devices fitted on the turret of the tank and they could be fire from inside by pulling the control cable. Usually 6 additional generators where stored inside the vehicle. The second type was the 2" bomb thrower, this was essentially a 2" mortar fitted inside the tank. Usually the weapon was fired through the roof of the turret and around 30 smoke bombs were carried per vehicle.

Production of smoke weapons by year (UK only) *no discharger figures available before August 1942

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945(May)

2" Bomb thrower

2,384

10,767

10,403

3,460

1,586

4" Smoke discharger*

NF

8,118

33,187

14,895

5,723

95mm Tank Howitzer

The 95mm was an attempt to add increased high explosive capability to British tanks, the weapon was originally to have the same weight as the 6pdr but a counterweight needed to be added which increased the weight. The 95mm was the same as the 95mm infantry howitzer except that it only used only used a single charge while the infantry weapon used three. The weapon was capable of firing both HE and Smoke rounds, it was also one of the first British tank weapons to make use of High Explosive Anti-Tank ammunition - penetration of this projectile was around 110mm at 30 degrees but do to accuracy issues the effective range was limited to around 600-700 yards.

]]>Other DataThu, 01 Jan 2009 21:26:09 +0000Engines used by British Vehicles during WWIIhttp://www.wwiiequipment.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=122:engines-used-by-british-vehicles-during-wwii&catid=49:other-data&Itemid=61
Engines used by British vehicles

The British made extensive use of wheeled vehicles during the Second World War and while the German army as well as many other armies where still reliant of horses for transportation, the British army was fully mechanised. The following statistics deal only with vehicles accepted by the War Office and Ministries such as the Ministry of Supply and Air Ministry, nor does it include vehicles imported from overseas.

Notice the large number tank transporters produced, most likely due to experience in the desert and the effective use of them by Germany.

*A more detailed breakdown of each time will be available in the future.

Wheeled Vehicles

Sep-Oct '39

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945(May 1st)

Trucks

9,744

97,699

108,539

130,653

117,458

108,036

37,759

Tractors

478

5,340

6,192

9,307

9,135

5,371

1,074

Tank Transporters

-

-

28

407

552

400

49

Cars

2,810

22,358

17,674

22,991

21,571

22,629

7,161

Motorcycles

11,679

67,465

70,220

75,073

79,782

76,169

20,788

Trailers

1,088

9,044

9,348

19,487

31,477

36,040

15,008

Sources - AVIA 22 456- 51

]]>Production StatisticsThu, 01 Jan 2009 21:14:14 +0000Wartime Production by the Commonwealth during WWIIhttp://www.wwiiequipment.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=117:wartime-production-by-the-commonwealth-during-wwii&catid=48:production-statistics&Itemid=61
Commonwealth Production during the Second World War

The story of wartime production in the United States and Lend Lease is well known but that of the Commonwealth had been largely forgotten, even the United Kingdoms efforts are largely unknown. The importance of production in Commonwealth countries, in particular that of Canada and Australia cannot be stressed enough, it was vital to the success of the Allied war effort and was especially important to the United Kingdom during the dark days of 1940 and 1941. The amount of material for war produced by the Commonwealth is staggering, from humble beginnings in 1940 to huge proportions in 1943/44. To underline the point of just how large and important the Commonwealths war production was, Canada alone produced more than double the number of trucks/lorries during the war than Germany.

As most of my research so far has dealt with British wartime production I have not yet been able to piece together a full picture of Commonwealth production for the entire war, for example I have not yet been able to find a source of aircraft production in Commonwealth countries, explosives and other raw materials but as more information becomes available to me I shall update this article and as always, if you have any data I would be very happy to see it!

The following data has been compiled from various documents from the Ministry of Supply, unfortunately I have not come across complete data for Canada before May 1942 or that of the other Commonwealth countries before April 1942. Also data from Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa has been grouped together into an "Eastern Group" and separation of the data for each country would not be possible from these sources. These figures deal purely with production and do not tell of how much of it was shipped to the UK (this information will follow in a separate article).

As stated above data for Canada pre May 1942 and the Eastern group pre April 1942 is not available so the incomplete figures for 1942 are given in the tables below but also an estimation for the entire year using the May/April figures have been given, in some cases this will exceed and in others be below actual figures but it should give a good impression of the entire years production.

Anti-Tank Weapons

Anti-Tank Weapons

Canada 1942

Canada 1942 (EST)

Eastern 1942

Eastern 1942 (EST)

Canada 1943

Eastern 1943

Canada 1944

Eastern 1944

Canada 1945

Eastern 1945

2pdr Guns

780

1,892

618

1,059

-

136

-

-

-

-

2pdr Carriage

204

340

256

568

-

-

-

-

-

-

6pdr Guns

4,703

5,655

192

192

2,344

815

-

190

-

-

6pdr Carriage

1,355

1,355

157

157

1,669

740

-

235

-

23

17pdr Guns

-

-

6

6

-

206

-

100

-

-

17pdr Carriage

-

-

1

1

-

24

-

95

-

26

Anti-Tank Ammunition (in thousands)

Anti-Tank Ammunition

Canada 1942

Canada 1942 (EST)

Eastern 1942

Eastern 1942 (EST)

Canada 1943

Eastern 1943

Canada 1944

Eastern 1944

Canada 1945

Eastern 1945

2pdr HE

-

-

-

-

-

53

-

-

-

-

2pdr AP

1,427

2,331

255

409

673

31

-

23

-

6

6pdr AP

1,487

1,927

-

-

4,694

45

-

100

-

23

6pdr APCBC

-

-

-

-

256

-

1,983

-

-

-

6pdr APDS

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

9

-

17pdr AP/APC

-

-

-

-

374

-

293

-

-

-

17pdr APCBC

-

-

-

-

-

-

204

-

84

-

17pdr APDS

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

51

-

75mm HE

504

504

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Artillery / Anti-Aircraft Guns

Artillery/AA

Canada 1942

Canada 1942 (EST)

Eastern 1942

Eastern 1942 (EST)

Canada 1943

Eastern 1943

Canada 1944

Eastern 1944

Canada 1945

Eastern 1945

25pdr Equipments

717

1,073

640

877

921

317

1,236

9

-

-

25pdr Equipments (Short)

-

-

-

-

-

64

-

-

-

-

3.7" How Pack

-

-

76

97

-

146

-

287

-

112

3.7" How Mech

-

-

24

60

-

23

-

10

-

-

40mm Bofors Equipments

1,311

1,671

8

8

1,427

155

-

58

-

-

3" AA Equipments

-

-

10

10

-

2

-

-

-

-

3.7" AA Equipments

445

489

150

198

1,115

122

173

3

-

-

Polsten Guns

-

-

-

-

1

-

7,051

470

-

988

Polsten Universal Mountings

-

-

-

-

243

-

9,497

-

-

-

Artillery / Anti-Aircraft Ammunition (in thousands)

Artillery/AA Ammunition

Canada 1942

Canada 1942 (EST)

Eastern 1942

Eastern 1942 (EST)

Canada 1943

Eastern 1943

Canada 1944

Eastern 1944

Canada 1945

Eastern 1945

25pdr HE

3,402

5,438

2,657

3,029

1,861

5,242

2,892

1,666

2,450

880

18pdr HE

-

-

312

389

-

-

-

-

-

-

3.7" How Mech

-

-

493

600

-

912

-

1,373

-

547

75mm HE

785

1,393

-

-

106

-

-

-

-

-

4.5" Gun HE

279

471

258

438

45

15

119

-

278

-

5.5" Gun/How HE

467

647

-

-

459

-

890

24

466

6

6" How HE

-

-

37

60

-

10

-

-

-

-

60pdr HE

-

-

5

11

-

1

-

-

-

-

7.2" How HE

270

434

-

-

182

-

-

-

-

-

25pdr Smoke

681

1,037

-

-

686

-

486

-

478

18

75mm Smoke

487

1,163

-

-

1,071

-

811

-

-

27

40mm HE

3,342

5,306

-

-

5,024

284

5,232

449

634

1

3" AA HE

-

-

10

10

-

-

-

-

-

-

3.7" AA HE

2,006

2,998

185

290

2,037

-

1,481

31

327

8

3.7" AA Sharp

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

8

-

-

Sources - AVIA 22 456- 514

]]>Production StatisticsThu, 01 Jan 2009 21:09:21 +0000British Production of Aircraft By Year During The Second World Warhttp://www.wwiiequipment.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=116:british-production-of-aircraft-by-year-during-the-second-world-war&catid=48:production-statistics&Itemid=61
Production of British Aircraft By Year

Here is a list of production figures for British Aircraft by year during WWII. I've collected data on all lend lease aircraft and these shall be posted here soon.